In the plumbing art it is well known to provide a seal at the point where a tube is connected to a threaded fitting by utilizing an independent brass ferrule having an inner diameter with relatively close tolerances which permits the brass ferrule to have a sliding fit about the tube and to be pressed and squeezed to form the desired seal as the threaded connection is being made.
Various attempts have been made in the prior art to connect a ferrule or to form a ferrule on the outside of the tube, pipe or conduit being connected to the threaded fitting such as is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,447,909 and 3,610,016.
The prior art devices essentially provide complex and expensive machines for accomplishing these results and in the case of the machinery for forming ferrules on the tubing itself, the mechanism relied on either mechanical or hydraulic expands the tubes, pipes or conduits from the inner diameter or inner walls thereof so that the outer walls conform to a mold or die form of the desired ferrule shape to be provided on the outer surface of the tube, pipe or conduit.
The present invention provides a relatively simple device for accomplishing the same result in which the tube is held in a longitudinal line and the end is pressed or squeezed in the presence of a suitable lubricant so as to form itself into the shape or contour of a split die, a portion of which is fixed and a portion of which is movable to establish the desired shape of the ferrule to be formed on the outside of the tube. The lubricant prevents the dies from cutting the tube, pipe, conduit or the like and aids the formation of the ferrule thereon.